The Effects of \u3cem\u3eTithonia diversifolia\u3c/em\u3e on Dairy Cow Performance

Southeast, South and Central West are the main milk producing regions in the Brazil. Especially in the states of Minas Gerais, Goias and Sao Paulo, the tropical climate is very characteristic, with hot and rainy summers, and dry winters. Dry winters in these states are characterized by scarcity of pasture herbage mass, which directly influence the volume of milk produced. The high volume of milk produced in summer and low volume of milk produced in winter (i.e. seasonality of production which is about 20% of total milk volume) directly affects dairy farmers by reducing its revenue during dry winters due to a drop in milk yield. In addition, it increases the production costs by offering additional roughage supplements to the cattle (sugarcane fresh plus urea, corn silage or sorghum silage), or by feeding more concentrates and/or greater labour costs. Research evaluating the potential of the Tithonia diversifolia in improving milk yield and quality is extremely limited. This research project seeks to develop tools to understand the potential impact on milk composition and cow performance and to evaluate the significance of its outcomes and to aid in the ongoing development of innovative approaches. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of replacing up to 9.1% of sugarcane fresh and up to 6.3% of concentrates (DM basis) with Tithonia diversifolia fresh fed to lactating dairy cows. It is hypothesized that the initial replacement of a portion of the sugarcane fresh and concentrates (corn grain and soybean meal) with the Tithonia diversifolia fresh would not reduce dairy cow performance